In November, the NYS Board of Regents voted to make changes to the Part 200 Regulations of the Commissioner of Education pertaining to students with disabilities. After holding public hearings on the proposed changes across the state (I attended hearings in NYC), in addition to authorizing school districts to add up to two additional students to integrated co-teaching classes, the Regents voted to repeal:
1. the minimum service delivery requirements for speech and language as a related service and
2. the minimum daily frequency and duration for instructional services to address the individual language needs of students with autism
Lots of commentary and emails circulated through list serves in response to these two specific regulation changes listed above. Unfortunately, much of the information circulated was not 100% accurate, and it generated a lot a worry and misunderstanding in many parents who contacted me.
Special education regulations currently require that speech services be provided to a student for whom they are recommended at a minimum of twice weekly for thirty minutes. The Regents voted to repeal that minimum requirement. However that does not mean that they voted to eliminate speech services, as was indicated several of the response emails that were circulated. There has never been a minimum number of sessions requirement for OT and PT, or any other related service, and they have still been routinely recommended for students for whom they were appropriate.
Part 200.13 of the NYS Regulations pertain to the education of classified students with ‘autism’. Section 200.13(a)(4) currently indicates “Instructional services shall be provided to meet the individual language needs of a student with autism for a minimum of 30 minutes daily in groups not to exceed two, or 60 minutes daily in groups not to exceed six.” Again, the Regents vote to repeal the minimum daily frequency and duration for instructional services to address the individual language needs of students with autism does not correspond to the “elimination” of speech services. Firstly, “instructional services to address individual language needs” is often confused with speech/language therapy as a related service. Typically, these ‘instructional services’ are actually embedded in the curriculum of language based special classes serving students with autism. Frequently these classroom services are supplemented by speech/language as a related service. That is the reality of the implementation of this regulation. I do not foresee that classrooms serving students with autism will be motivated to change curriculum and eliminate language instruction. My experience is that language and communication are the focus of these classrooms to begin with.
It is also important to note that there are many children with developmental disabilities including ASDs who are not autistic and not classified as students with autism (In the United States less than 4% of special education students are classified as students with autism). My daughter is one of those children, I have a good friend with a child with Down Syndrome who is another, and I know many other students with developmental disabilities who are classified under OHI, LD, etc. Those students are not ‘protected’ under 200.13 yet they have intensive needs and receive intensive levels of services. When my daughter was young and was in a special class at one point, she did receive daily instruction to address her language needs within her classroom, and also received speech services 4x weekly, not because of she was protected under 200.13 (because she isn’t) but because her individualized needs and special education goals necessitated it. Today she is in a much less restrictive placement and the curriculum of the class does not include daily instruction for language needs. If she was classified by the CSE as a student with autism her IEP would need to include daily speech/language therapy to meet that requirement although it is not appropriate to her needs. This is a real issue for some students with autism. I know a young man who is autistic and basically non-vocal. He communicates primarily through his laptop. (Here’s a link to the Parent Center’s AT newsletter which contains an article he wrote, http://www.hvsepc.org/1209full.html ). He received the highest grade in our high school (which is one of the largest in the state) on the Global History Regents. He held his own one-man art show in the museum. He has taken college art courses at SUNY Purchase. Do you think this fully mainstreamed brilliant young man wants to be pulled out five times a week for speech??? Yet his IEP would be out of compliance if it is not recommended.
As I have come to understand the regulations, the special education/CSE process, and IDEA, I find myself thinking that any regulations that are prescriptive for a specific disability do not really correspond to the intent of IDEA. Students who are classified under autism can range from the severely autistic and non-verbal to a very high functioning highly intelligent student with Asperger’s syndrome. Students with autism receive special education services across the continuum. Some are in special education ‘life skills’ classes and even residential placements and some are fully mainstreamed receiving only related services. All children in the USA are entitled to a free public education. Under IDEA, students with disabilities are entitled to a free appropriate public education. That 'A' in FAPE created the "I" in IEP and the educational program for a student with disabilities must be individualized to meet a student's unique and individual needs.
Stay on top of these issues and be informed. The Internet is filled with lots of great information, but just because it is there in black and white, it does not necessarily mean it is accurate or unbiased. One way to stay on top of special education issues in New York State is to become familiar with the NYSED Special Education Department website, http://www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/. Register to receive email updates so that you can be aware of policy memos and other announcements as they are released.
Naomi Brickel
